Thursday, 26 April 2012

An old favourite of
mine that I have repainted as I sold the original some months ago and now hangs
on a wall in Inverness. Liverpool painting No.52 Regent Road is a little larger
than the original from my, painting into the light phase.

Wednesday, 25 April 2012

I was really
flattered to be asked to do a painting demonstration for a painting group in
the city. It felt a little strange doing a landscape from a previous study
under the watchful eye of the video camera and about 30 or so on lookers. I
enjoyed it though and they looked after me really well for what was an
interesting night.

Monday, 16 April 2012

I was sitting in the back garden sun preparing some lessons for the next painting course which starts tomorrow at Orrel Park. Taking a short break I decided to practice what I preach and do a quick painted study and stop after 30 minutes. Reduce a simple scene into a mosaic of shapes not things and aim for the right value colour. It’s not how you finish but how you start. The acrylic paint was drying so quick in the heat really helps your speed painting skills.

I intend to do the whole course following the advice of painter Kevin Macpherson, using just 3 colours, ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow, crimson red and white. I think this could simplify the colour mixing problems faced by most students so it should be quiet interesting to strip things down to the bare essentials.

Sunday, 1 April 2012

The only way to learn how to draw is by drawing, it’s not what you know, but what you do. Of late I haven’t been drawing as much as I should, a practice I hope to change. The slow meditative pastime of the contour drawing is complimented by the quick study or gesture drawing. The idea is that you draw quickly and decisively without the pen leaving the paper with only quick glances at the drawing as most of the time is spent looking at the model.

In a few seconds you should record the gesture of the model and not worry about the surface quality but the gesture of the image. It’s another great exercise for getting into the habit of looking at the model and not at the paper.

I managed to do some from the second floor of a building and seeing the model from this perspective is really challenging as the body shape constantly changes proportions the nearer or further it moves across your view.

The gesture drawing may look like a tangle of fishing line. The drawings may look meaningless but the benefits that you have at the moment of reacting to the gesture will pay dividends…learn to act swiftly and directly without questioning it. Kimon Nicolaides.